How Do You Justify Writing With A Fountain Pen In The Digital Age?

[Snoutmol]

Of course writing instruments still have tons of irreplaceable uses: cards, notes, sketching, journaling, etc. But what about long essays or even books that ultimately have to end up on a computer anyway? I like writing drafts with a fountain pen, but sometimes for the sake of time it seems like I should give up and just write on a computer, where you can type fast, cut and paste text, and have dictionaries, thesauruses, and Google all a click away.

[DrDebG]

Good comment.

 

I am a huge user of every technological advantage that will help me be more efficient - not just looking like I am more efficient, but truly more efficient. And many times that means using fountain pen and paper and working it out in a physical fashion. I just can't seem to "sketch" my ideas as easily on the computer as I can with pen and paper.

 

So, yes, many times I write long reports on paper first. I definitely sketch out my illustrations first before putting them into Publisher or Illustrator. And all of my presentations on worked out on paper before I put them in PowerPoint.

[brunico]

Marshalling your thoughts on a computer and by hand will give you two very different drafts. At college, where we didn't hand essays in but read them out in tutorials, several tutors said they could tell who'd written essays by hand, because the argument had, by necessity, been thought through beforehand.

 

For longer dissertations researched and written over weeks or months, I used to draft by hand, type up and print out, then write insertions and corrections by hand on the blank facing page, repeat... this gets the advantages of both.

 

If people find themselves constantly cutting and pasting, that may be a sign that there is no overall structure to the argument they're trying to present.

[dk76]

Similar to others, I find writing it out first helps me develop my thoughts. When punching it on the screen, I can rearrange some lines for a less scatterbrained essay.

 

Also, writing it out helps as a memory tool for me. I am less likely to forget if I write it down as opposed to typing a note out. Plus it's easier to uncap my pen, grab a pad and write as opposed to pulling up an applicable app.

[openionated]

The same way that I justify a pepperoni pizza when my friends are eating kale salad. "Because it makes me happy"

 

All kidding aside, when I have a time crunch, I use the digital tools for the sake of efficiency. But if I have the time to work at my own pace, I have no problem righting drafts and making notes with a nice pen.

[Sasha Royale]

I enjoy using my fountain pens. Doing so harms neither people nor society. I use my computer in

the same manner that you described. I don't have to justify anything.

 

Soooooooooooo, which fountain pens do you use ?

[swanjun]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RWuP-TCOuqU/VJBRPwdHjqI/AAAAAAAAP8I/rO28bbc0qps/s1600/meme.png

[sharonspens]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RWuP-TCOuqU/VJBRPwdHjqI/AAAAAAAAP8I/rO28bbc0qps/s1600/meme.png

+1

 

Justification is for OTHER people. Bwhahahahaha

[svalcourt]

I tend to sketch out my initial concepts on paper, but for the actual writing of papers, articles or sermons (I'm a pastor) I find my writing cannot keep up with my train of thought. Thus, most of my actual long-form writing is done on the computer.

[ppdiaporama]

I don't think the same way on paper as I do on a keyboard ... When I write, I review what I write, I cross out, uncross out ;-) then cross out again ... and see the evolution on the page. With a computer, I do CTRL+Z and never think of it again.

 

I also find that writting on paper, then typing out, acts a review step. Because I have to rewrite what I wrote, I inevitably improve what I'm writting.

 

Lastly, I remember what I write ... I don't remember what i type. Often, in meetings (and I used to do this in school too), I just write what is being said in a notebook. I don't need to go back and reread it ... I remember it beause I wrote it. I just toss the notebook when it's full.

[inkstainedruth]

My husband is a software engineer and software developer. He's not an FP guy, but he always does his rough drafts with a pen or pencil on paper. He just thinks better that way when he's trying to work stuff through.

Me? I tried writing on the computer and it just didn't work. But on paper with a pen -- I can get several pages done almost effortlessly if I get into the flow. I have a bunch of notebooks and composition books, but what works the best for me is a clipboard and decent quality, relatively inexpensive, and relatively FP friendly printer paper. I'm finding I like the Ology paper from Walgreens (of all places) -- it's a mix of sugarcane and bamboo, and seems to work pretty well. I'm only using one side of the page for the fiction, but I write small (generally with an F nib) and I like the fact that the paper is unlined (of course suddenly I'm sticking arrows in from the margin with a note (in another color) that I need to add stuff as an addendum, when I've forgotten something that I had really meant to put in. But I'm like ppdiaporama -- I cross stuff out, write stuff small in the space between lines, etc. Can't do that as easily in a word processing document; maybe if I was a better typist/keyboardist -- but I'm not.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[FLZapped]

NIke.

[Manalto]

I really like your question. Typewriters are enjoying a resurgence of popularity. A typewriter repairman told me that writers like them because of the lack of distractions during those lengthy pauses required for deep thought. Also, by virtue of the mechanism, typing is slower and that pace is more conducive to creativity for some.

 

Sitting with a fountain pen and pad also reduces the temptation of succumbing to the urge to check one's email, and it's certainly slower than a computer keyboard or even a typewriter. Again, this pace may suit one's creative process.

 

Transferring handwritten work to electronic medium is not a waste of time and effort but rather another opportunity to refine, revise and edit your work. Never underestimate the value of this. Who is it that said 80% of writing is rewriting? This is just another version of what those who have commented above have already said.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Manalto

[mhm802]

Interestingly, in the pre-digital "olden days", I never got the hang of writing long-form narrative first drafts on the typewriter, always did first efforts with pen and paper. So understandably I was suspicious when faced with a word processor for the first time. To my surprise, I found writing first drafts on a computer to be much more like writing by hand, free flowing -- except much faster. I didn't worry about refining ideas, but left that to the edit/rewrite stage, which for me was by hand, with pen (preferably fountain pen) on a word processed document printed out to allow plenty of room for handwritten changes (either full page double or triple spaced, or with very a very wide right margin.)

 

If I'm brainstorming presentations or other not necessarily linear projects, I almost always sketch them out by hand, often mind-map style, then convert them to digital using whatever app is most appropriate.

[Orpilorp]

I used to be a mainframe programmer. You would be surprised at the number of my coworkers who did not have a computer at home. We used them at work to earn a living but wanted nothing to with them outside of work.

 

I'm to the point where I really don't like computer screens because 1) it's as though I'm working in twilight and 2) they afford far too many distractions (such as hypertext links). Still, they are a necessary evil in my current career.

 

But this thread may be moot because soon students will not know how to write by hand. I now work in an affluent school district which does teach printing the alphabet but does not teach any actual handwriting skills -- but by golly every student gets a laptop. Even the preschool kids get iPads!

[DonLeone]

I wrote a giant reply but it turned into a giant rant filled with pinheads >8[

 

Long story short, fully digital is not efficient. With technology at the current level, you still need pen and paper to get anything done, at least in knowledge work. It's not an either-or issue. That's fallacious thinking. Both are needed to be efficient and effective.

[Charles Skinner]

I came to the "dot com" age late, and when I did enter the "world of the computer," I really thought about ending my "fountain pen journal," ---- started in 1960, ----- and start writing it on my dot com machine. But after careful thought, I gave up on that idea. Why? Not sure I can express it fully, but I realized that there is something very special about seeing ink flow from the tip of a pen onto paper, forming words that had just seconds before, just been thoughts in my "head."

 

Long live the paper and fountain pen world!

 

C. S.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Of course writing instruments still have tons of irreplaceable uses: cards, notes, sketching, journaling, etc. But what about long essays or even books that ultimately have to end up on a computer anyway? I like writing drafts with a fountain pen, but sometimes for the sake of time it seems like I should give up and just write on a computer, where you can type fast, cut and paste text, and have dictionaries, thesauruses, and Google all a click away.

Not trying to be rude, and I hope you don't take it as such. But I never try to 'justify' anything I like to use, eat, watch, or wear. I just use it, eat it, watch it, or wear it, whether it be modern, vintage, futuristic, hopelessly out of step, or anything else.

 

I like fountain pens, ink, and paper. They are fun. I echo what many other posters have said about them. And FPN itself is fun!

Edited December 22, 2015 by Sailor Kenshin

[om_nom_nomigon]

When I was doing my first degree I used to write out all my assignments by hand before typing them up. I would have spent a little bit of time doing the background research and collecting quotes first, so by the time it came to work on the essay, 2500 words could be written and typed in an evening. Although I can type quicker than I can write, that method was actually quicker as handwriting my work gives me thinking time, and I am not constantly going back to make amendments. I don't know why I fell out of that habit as it was a much more relaxing way of doing things.

 

At work I don't want to draw too much attention to myself by handwriting everything out first, but if there is a section of a report I am really struggling to come up with the words for then I will draft it by hand first which is really helpful to get my thoughts in order.

[Manalto]

But I never try to 'justify' anything I like to use, eat, watch, or wear...

 

I interpreted "justify" in this sense to mean, "Does it still make sense?" What a question to ask a bunch of fountain pen fanatics, right? I'm really enjoying yours and the others' replies because it clearly reveals the process of getting words on paper and how it varies from person to person.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Manalto